The Big Three have an obligation of due diligence to their stockholders. Even to their own employees their obligations are limited to those imposed by state and federal laws and by their own contracts with their employee groups. Obligations to employees of subcontractors? Not so much.
So they can hire employees away from their own subcontractors and cripple their own feed that is an integral part of the hub and spoke model, or they can hire from the ULCCs, Alaska, and Jet Blue, and cripple their competitors. What do you THINK they are going to do?
Until the Big Three can’t find qualified applicants from other sources, they will slow roll hiring from other sources to maintain their feed. It ain’t personal, it’s just business.
